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ECRC News 2013

November 4, 2013

Humboldt-Fellowship for Young American Researcher in Berlin

Dr. Jean-Yves K. Tano from the University of Toledo Medical College in Toledo, Ohio, USA has received an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship for postdoctoral researchers to work in Germany. He joined the research group of Professor Maik Gollasch at the Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC), a joint cooperation between the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch in November this year, after having completed two months of German classes at the Goethe Institute in Berlin.

Joint press release of the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH), Campus Kiel, of Kiel University (CAU), the Cluster of Excellence Inflammation at Interfaces, the Max Delbrück Center for Moleculare Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and the Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC) of the Charité and the MDC

Scientists from Kiel and Berlin Identify New Genetic Risk Loci for Atopic Dermatitis

In collaboration with researchers from England, Ireland and Switzerland as well as the U.S., Japan and China, scientists in Kiel and Berlin have identified variants in four gene regions which strongly increase the risk for atopic dermatitis. The results of the study conducted by the Department of Dermatology, Venerology and Allergology, the Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology (IKMB) of the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH), Campus Kiel, Kiel University (CAU), the Cluster of Excellence Inflammation at Interfaces, the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, and the Department of Pediatric Allergology of the Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC) of the Charité and the MDC have now been published in the journal Nature Genetics (http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ng.2642.html).

New Findings on the Brain’s Immune Cells during Alzheimer’s Disease Progression

The plaque deposits in the brain of Alzheimer’s patients are surrounded by the brain’s own immune cells, the microglia. This was already recognized by Alois Alzheimer more than one hundred years ago. But until today it still remains unclear what role microglia play in Alzheimer’s disease. Do they help to break down the plaque deposit? A study by researchers of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin has now shed light on these mysterious microglia during the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. (PLoS One, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0060921)*.

International Study: Excess Dietary Salt May Drive the Development of Autoimmune Diseases

Increased dietary salt intake can induce a group of aggressive immune cells that are involved in triggering and sustaining autoimmune diseases. This is the result of a study conducted by Dr. Markus Kleinewietfeld, Prof. David Hafler (both Yale University, New Haven and the Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, and Harvard University, USA), PD Dr. Ralf Linker (Dept. of Neurology, University Hospital Erlangen), Professor Jens Titze (Vanderbilt University and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, FAU, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg) and Professor Dominik N. Müller (Experimental and Clinical Research Center, ECRC, a joint cooperation between the Max-Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, MDC, Berlin, and the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and FAU) (Nature, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature11868)*. In autoimmune diseases, the immune system attacks healthy tissue instead of fighting pathogens.